


how ridiculous it is

by justjoy



Series: coffee and crimes: the svu fic 'bus [5]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: (it's intentionally formatted weird okay now hush), (like 600ish words of phonefic fluff?), Episode: s19e09 Gone Baby Gone, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 18:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13746537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjoy/pseuds/justjoy
Summary: afterwards, liv leans against the kitchen counter and tries to find words – not that they've ever really needed those. she says them anyway. "thanks, rafa.""anytime, liv. i mean it." rafael's smiling a little, smirking even, but it's warm around the edges and she wants to reach for him again, so much.instead, she retrieves his jacket from where it's been slung carelessly across the back of her sofa and holds it out to him, lets their fingers brush where they touch. "well, i wouldn't want to ruin your nice suit.""i'm offended by your implication," he tells her. "allof my suits are nice."





	how ridiculous it is

it happens later, after carisi helps rollins bundle a half-asleep jesse into her car and fin's put away the last of tonight's robots, when it's all quiet again and liv comes back from tucking noah in to rafael doing the dishes, sleeves rolled up past his elbow:

"you know, i guess one good thing did come of this mess," she muses.

"yeah?" rafael asks, distractedly; he hasn't noticed the fleck of soap bubbles that's somehow landed on his nose.

liv has, but she isn't about to tell him. "yeah," she says instead, "we now know that you're a pretty okay hugger overall."

" _pretty okay._ right." he turns, raises an eyebrow at her. "maybe you could talk to the DA's office, get that added to my job title."

liv can't help it; she laughs, imagines it etched onto the glass of his door. _rafael barba, ADA, pretty okay hugger._

rafael is, by some miracle, still straight faced about it. "might get a raise out of it, even," he deadpans.

she waves her hand vaguely at him: _eh, maybe_. "you'd have to get better at it, first," she adds.

"by – what, hugging jack mccoy?" he asks, looking thoroughly scandalised. she catches the flicker of a grin there anyway. "they can't pay me enough for that, i'd sooner hug a tree."

"can't be helped then." liv shrugs, reaches around him to start putting the dishes back. "even you can't be good at _everything._ "

he's facing away from her now, but there's no mistaking the line of amusement in his shoulders. "that a challenge, lieutenant?"

she smiles at his back, and it's silly and fond but there's no one around to see it anyway; there's just them, now. "so what if it is, rafa?"

and liv thinks that he's going to say something else, something witty or cutting and so entirely _him,_ but instead he turns suddenly and she's caught, off her guard and in his arms.

they're almost the same height like this, barefooted and standing in her kitchen like they could be any other people except they're not, and liv's still half-wound up in that when she hears "you're supposed to tell me how i'm doing, you know," like he's trying to sound annoyed and is just missing by a mile.

liv can't find her voice, so instead she just curls her arms up around his back, tucks her face down by his shoulder, and nods.

"i assume that's better than _pretty okay,_ " rafa says, except it comes out like a question, and it takes her a moment to realise that his words are muffled against her sleeve as well.

and liv exhales but doesn't let go, only holds on and breathes: "yeah. it's better. it's good."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> > liv smiles right back at him. "i don't know, casual's a pretty good look on you too."
>> 
>> "you think?" rafael makes a show of inspecting his outfit as he shrugs his jacket back on. "maybe we should implement dress-down friday in court."
>> 
>> liv nearly snorts at the utter hilarity of _that_ mental image. "you just want to tell everyone that it wasn't your yacht you were on."
>> 
>> "well, it really wasn't," he drawls lazily, just as his phone chimes. "and there's my ride home. good night, liv."
>> 
>> she unlocks the door, leans against the doorframe to watch him go. "night, rafa – don't dream of becoming a comedian!" she calls out after him.
>> 
>> his laughter echoes down the corridor around her.


End file.
